My first basic corn mash

[Rudy2153]

I am about to make a mash/wash and need some advice. I want to keep it simple but I don’t want to use UJSSM because I won’t be able to run the second gen in an appropriate amount of time afterward. I have 20lbs of ground Jimmy Red corn and want to use some of it for a 5/7 gallon mash in my 7.75 gallon keg still. I also have plenty of alpha and gluco amylase. Can anyone give me a good recipe or at least some ratios for the ingredients? Should I convert the starches and use less sugar or just add more sugar till I get to 1.070/80 starting gravity? Any advice is appreciated!

[NormandieStill]

Booner's All Corn in Tried and True is the reference for what you're trying to do.

[Rudy2153]

Thank you Normandie! I think that this definitely the recipe I will try!

[subbrew]

General guideline is 2.25 lb grain/gal of water. That will only get to about 1.064 rather than 1.070, for that boost it up to 2.6 lb/gallon. Of course the final gravity will depend on you mash efficiency which is dependent on the grind of the grain, ph for good enzyme efficiency and proper temperatures.

Corn has about 32 gravity points per lb potential. So two lb per gallon should give 1.064. But I use a mash efficiency of about 80%. That gives the equation (lb corn per gal * 32) * .8 = desired gravity points. Plug in the desired gravity and solve for the lb corn per gallon.

Also remember that if you use 7 gal of water, some will stay in the grain so you will lose about 15% in your final still charge. i.e. if you mash with 7 gal of water you will only get a bit less than 6 gal in your still.

[Rudy2153]

This is awesome information! Thank you. I did not know about the gravity points for corn. Assuming I get .8 conversion rate and the starting gravity is like 1.055 or so I could bump it with very little sugar at that point to get to 1.070 right? I’m not stuck on an all grain mash at this point, maybe some day down the line, but not today.
As far as the loss of volume in the grain bed is concerned, I had figured that I don’t want to fill my keg all the way up in case there was puking. 6.5 gallons or so would be just about right to leave plenty of head space.

[subbrew]

Yes, you can bump up the gravity with sugar. It will cause the final product to be a bit less flavorful and many people can taste a sugar bite. But I would assume it would be less noticeable in a mash with the sugar just being a small part of the fermentables.

[higgins]

If you are going to the trouble of mashing, why dilute flavor with sugar?

Do the mash, measure gravity, and only if too low, add sugar.

If it was me I'd just run it as is and get less product with more flavor, figure out why the gravity was too low, fix it, and mash another one.

[8Ball]

I wouldn’t add sugar to red corn, but I would certainly do a piggy back sugar head AFTER an all grain.

[Rudy2153]

I wouldn’t add sugar to red corn, but I would certainly do a piggy back sugar head AFTER an all grain.

So treat the grains like UJSSM. Add backset, water and sugar and refement?

[8Ball]

You got it. Strip it out & do a spirit with the feints added from the all grain.

[Rudy2153]

Sounds good. That probably how I’ll do it.

[Rudy2153]

So I mashed in yesterday! I did my best to follow Booner’s recipe, since I have powdered enzymes I made adjustments as I went and hoped for the best. I decided not to use the Jimmy Red corn that I have for now until I can get some SebStar liquid HTL and Gluco and used plain old cracked corn from the feed store.

I boiled 3.5 gallons of water and let it cool to 200 then added it to my mash tun (10g orange Igloo) with 15lbs of corn and stirred with my drill and stainless mixer until it looked like cornbread batter. I let it cool until 150* and pitched powder amylase, then stirred again and let cool to 100*. Then pitched powder gluco and stirred. I let it sit for 2 hours and then added the last 4 gallons of water. That got me to 86* so took a gravity reading and had 1.03 (I cooled liquid in fridge to 60*). I then decided to add sugar, 7lbs got me to 1.065, so I pitched yeast (DADY). The Air Lock started bubbling in about an hour or so. Hopefully I will get a decent product when it’s done.
Obviously I didn’t get a great conversion from the corn and powdered amylase, but I’m not disappointed, I still got a mash! I have ordered some SebStar and will definitely be doing this again with the feed corn before I use the Red Corn I have.
Any critique anyone has is welcome. Thanks in advance.

[8Ball]

Next time try cooking the corn. Plenty of info here on how to do it.

[Deplorable]

Next time try cooking the corn. Plenty of info here on how to do it.

+1

Pour that boiling water on the corn, don't let it cool.
If you let it cool, then pour it in, you'll lose even more heat. You want that water as hot as possible when it goes in the corn, and you gotta give a good long rest to soften the corn.

If you just used cracked corn, try milling it finer. Like a medium course meal.